Man shot by Taser gun remains in hospital

April 16, 2011

Jason McMaster

The condition of the man accused of assaulting and threatening to kill several San Luis Obispo Police officers was upgraded from serious condition to fair condition earlier today.

Following an altercation with San Luis Obispo Police on Thursday, Jason McMaster, 37, was taken to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center where he remains in the intensive care ward, said Ron Yukelson, spokesman for Sierra Vista Hospital.

McMaster threatened to kill police officers who responded to a call that a man was acting strangely and yelling profanities at Santa Rosa Park. The 6-foot-2-inch, 245-pound man violently resisted arrest.

McMaster, who has a history of violent crimes and assaulting law enforcement officers, was paroled from prison in February.

A former San Luis Obispo Police officer said he came close to shooting McMaster during a mid 90s raid on a meth house.

19 Comments

Alright, screw the police. I take back anything nice I said. This story, AS USUAL, has started unravelling and I’m sorry but when you can’t tell the straight story up front, EVERYTHING you say is in question. This is what police do not understand today…. this is why people get upset at you when you feel you were just protecting yourself. If you do not LIE or MISLEAD people about other things, you will NOT have this problem.

But you do, and here we are. So now we want the full story. Was he REALLY a threat to the police? Did the police just upset an obnoxious drunk and make HIM feel threatened, and perhaps he believed he was trying to protect himself? You know what SLO Police, we just don’t trust you anymore, and if you don’t understand why, then you’re dumb as well as dishonest.

What are you venting about? What story did you read, the one printed above? You were not there so you have no idea what happened. Of course the conspiracy theories start coming out that the Police are witholding information, or not telling all of the details. You people are ridiculous to bash the Police so quickly. Were you so quick to bash teachers when all those teacher/student sex scandals came out?? If ONE teacher did it they all must do it!!! That is your mentality. This is a criminal case where the correct forum is the Court of law, not some liberal internet web site. The last parapgraph were the person said that he almost shot the suspect at an earlier contact meant nothing to you? Just glossed over that to fit your agenda I bet.

FIrst, just to make it clear Dogpound, though you may view this as a liberal web site I am anything but a liberal. In fact I’m so far to the right that it confuses most conservatives. With that said…

Secondly, on an earlier article which implied that that suspect was subdued by the police officers, and made no mention of the taser, I congratulated the officers on a job well done. THAT is where my reaction comes from.

I try to be fair in my opinions. I realize that my opinions really don’t matter that much at the end of the day, and that a court of law will ultimately decide an issue. However, that does not negate the validity of a public forum my friend. If WE the people ARE the government, then WE the people must have VALID and ACCURATE information by which to make our decisions and cast our votes. We must be able to ACCURATELY perceive the condition of things, the behavior of our public servants, and fairness of our courts. CONSTANTLY, I am finding that the information provided to the press by the police omits VERY important details.

And THAT is my point. This is not one isolated case. My opinion is being formed through my observations over an extended period of time, and I try to educate myself on police policies and procedures and understand the issue from both sides. But it strikes me as somewhat odd that OFTEN the official story does not match the evidence, and so yes, I am certainly prone to jump to conclusions quickly. But again, I did not state there was a conspiracy, I stated that I am suspicious and WHY I am suspicious, in case there was any confusion.

Finally, what relevance is there to the fact that a police officer says he almost shot the suspect? In fact, the details of the story make me even MORE skeptical, as the officer says “he pulled a big long switchblade.” Well, there is a limit to how long switchblades are made, and it is very unlikely that I would describe any switchblade as big and long. In addition, we’re talking about using a gun to shoot a guy with a knife… yeah, uh no sorry, that doesn’t win me over.

You point the finger at the police very quickly. Maybe the news media leaves stuff out…on purpose. I can give you an example of one where CalCoast did that very thing to slant the article. Look at the article about Half Moon Bay PD and my comments about omissions in the article. Your “screw the police” comment was harsh and not deserving. Most citizens’ minds onthis site are already made up: Police are bad, or at least not to be trusted.
And your comments in the last paragraph show how disconnected you are with what really happens out in the streets. There is no limit to how long switch blades are made. There is a limit to what is legal to carry, which means NOTHING to a criminal. A six inch switch blade is a large balde that will carve you up very quickly. On that note ” using a gun to shoot a guy with a knife… yeah, uh no sorry, that doesn’t win me over” comment shows your own disconnect. A man with a knife can be on you in an instant and carve you up before you could scream. IF you had a gun that was holstered, you would be stabbed before you could get the gun out. One slash to the jugular or other artery and you will bleed out.
You can not be serious that when a suspect pulls out a knife on a police officer that the police officer does not have every right to protect himself and shoot that suspect? Really?! What would you do when a suspect pulls a knife on you and you have a flash to react? This is the reality, not some TV show or the movies. Tasers do not always work, pepper spray does not always work, even bullets do not always work (immediately). This is the problem that I have with many on here: no basis of reality or what it is like to be in the police officer’s shoes. I do not take every story as truth, I try to look into it as much as I can. Like the Half Moon Bay story….SLANTED.

You poor bleeding hearts. Please don’t hurt anyone who is trying to harm or kill a police officer.
Unfortunately one of two things happens in a conflict like this. Either the officer looses and is badly injured. Or on the other side if he wins the fight it will be declared by the bleeding hesrts that the officer over reacted.
Having been there in the past I always told young officers that there are no “Queen’s Rules” in the street. Consequently the most violent person will always be the winner.
Now do you want the police to be the winners or loosers?

“Consequently the most violent person will always be the winner. Now do you want the police to be the winners or loosers”? I don’t want the police to be violent. Yes, sometimes they must use a weapon. Violence shouldn’t make you a winner…

Violence does not make them winners, it makes them survivors! What do you expect the Police to do when a suspect comes at them violently? Talk them down? Ask nicely to stop? Force is met with force to end the attack, period. Assaults on Police Officers are up this year, as are line of duty deaths. Sorry, but most cops do not want to be counted in those statistics so they will do what is required to end the threat. How about this: maybe the suspects need to just give in to the arrest and none of this would have happened!! Is that realistic? No. Police work is a dangerous job and sometimes force has to be used. Get over it.

Yeah, WHEN it is a dangerous job. Why do people ALWAYS use the same mantra over and over again “when the suspect comes at them violently” ? At this point, because the police have decided ONCE AGAIN to cover up information, I’m not willing to take their word on his behavior.

Isn’t drug addiction a mental illness also? So what if he inked up and is 245, your discriminating against him based upon his appearance aren’t you? I thought we didn’t “profile” anymore? Not to defend this guy but what would one round into the knee have done to stop him in his tracks? Instead a days later still in a coma indicating head trauma and possible brain damage from beating his senseless. With extensive testing done and every law enforcement agency utllizing them you telling me a Tazer gun is a so so device that cant stop a person accused of being cranked up? Which wold have been better to stop him and prevent the officers from being placed in harms way and unnecessary injury to this guy?. I was under the impression law enforcement trains regularly for this kind of situation. Like so many law involvement stories in this county this story has to many holes in it and somebody is hiding the truth again.

Even more interesting than what happened at the sceen to cause Mr McMaster to stop breating, brought into the ICU and put in a drug induced coma. The family was told by the hospital that they could not release any information on his condition that the jail was incharge of information as to his state. Upon calling the Jail the statement was that the hospital was the only place that information could be obtained. It took 16 calls for the family to finally find out the barest of information as to his condition. Only current in nature, no information on what had cause him to stop breathing and what his prognosis is.
Regardles of what Mr McMaster did, or if he was under the influence of drugs, which is still unknown by the family, is there any reason in the world wht family and loved ones shuld have to suffer for days not knowing what state he was in. Why did the Sheriff Department repeatedly denied blocking communication, why are the details of his health being withheld.
This was a clusterf—- from begining to end.

Something with this story doesn’t add up. According to the original press release:
“McMaster, who police say has a history of violent crimes and assaulting law enforcement officers, was ultimately subdued, placed under arrest, taken to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center for treatment and then booked into jail.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/04/14/1562936/parolee-arrested-in-slo-after.html#ixzz1Jtj9E9Lo
“One has to wonder what happened between the time he was seen at the hospital and then booked into jail and then ended up back in the hospital in a coma? One also has to wonder what occurred between the time he charged an officer yelling he was going to kill him and the time that the other officers showed up and told him to lay on the ground, which he did do.”
I have no doubt that this guy is a violent Meth head and I also suspect that the police know him well. This isn’t the first time they have had to deal with him and as Mike Brennler mentioned, he still remembers him from years ago when he opened a switch blade during a drug raid. However, I also suspect that the whole truth isn’t being told here. They “opted” to beat the guy into a coma and I have to wonder if a “good time” wasn’t had by all. I’ll be waiting for all the facts, like did they or didn’t they employ a taser or did the clubs just start flying?

what I know…First and foremost that this man has many loved ones… this topic is spreading like wildfire on the streets. I would just say this… the truth will surface… access to traffic cameras, security cameras, and every other possible puzzle piece will be found. Several letters, eyewitnesses, are manifesting for a reputable private investigator. This incident will not be allowed to be considered justified. Having a criminal history isn’t against the law..but in this case the same office involved assault is the same officer in a previous case against the “weaponless” Jason. The cops stories are always flawless and synchronized…. we’ll see when the hard-videos surface… wouldn’t be surprised if we are prompted “File Not Found” under the date in time in question in video recorded data logs. Friends and Family are praying for you Jason. I love You!

Wear ANYONE’S SHOES!
A violent 6-foot-2-inch tatooed 245-pound man comes towards you uninvited!
Anything from a bat, baton, stick mace, sand or taser necessary to protect you, your loveones or friends is alright by me!
No BS put your self in their shoes!
Good job SLOPD or any ordinary person in their same spot!

The first article posted here on Cal Coast News seemed to be a repeat of what was reported on the Tribune website, and there was no mention, anywhere in the article of a taser being used, period. In some of the comments on the Tribune website, there was mention of how one would have to had the taser at the ready and have fired very quickly before the subject presented a difficult target when wrestling with other officers. I stated before on the first reporting here that IF tasers weren’t used I was going to be very impressed that the officers were able to subdue the man without having to shoot the man with a firearm; it seems more likely now that the responding officers DID use their tasers (most likely two or more fired their tasers at nearly the same time) and given that this man was probably high on meth or some other drug or drugs, the tasers had an effect of a more grave injury, or it is entirely possible that the tasers had absolutely no effect on him at all because of the possibility of drugs in his system and the officers had to rely on subduing him with brute force. I asked in my first posting about the effect of the training that Chuck Liddell was supposed to have given to the SLO PD officers and I wonder now if the officers didn’t over compensate and used excessive force and that is why the suspect is in “serious” condition. I think it is very likely that the officers in that moment of trying to subdue this out-of-control man who may have been high on drugs and not responsive to the effects of multiple tasers that the officers used every means possible to control him and that led to them harming him; I would not blame them if that is what happened, I am just bothered by the lack of a depth of reporting by both the Tribune and Cal Coast News. It would be very interesting to find out what really happened.

According to other media sources including the Trib, the police were not able to use a taser! They said that the attack occured too fast and that there wasn’t room enough to use a taser, what with the other officers all trying to control him, hummm? If they did use a taser, why would he be in a coma?

I was wondering if the SLOPD went overboard and beat this mentally ill guy into a coma. It’s not like some of them haven’t done it before. After reading this update with Mike’s personal experience surrounding this guy, I guess it’s exactly what VOA is saying over in the Trib blogs. “The guy is a meth head and has been for a long time”, “he is not mentally ill, just violent”. There are too many people who are afflicted with mental illness through no fault of their own and I have no sympathy for anyone who willfully contributes to their own paranoia or ability to reason.